


bilingualism makes for a colorful dinner

by hugducks



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Family Dinners, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Multilingualism is a raging pain in the ass, Nile Freeman is So Done, Subtle Book of Nile???? But like, only if you Want There To Be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26692645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hugducks/pseuds/hugducks
Summary: Nile decides to learn how to cook with Nicky and Joe.She mostly regrets it.
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Comments: 34
Kudos: 197





	bilingualism makes for a colorful dinner

**Author's Note:**

> please i'm so tired and hate college apps.
> 
> pet name references came from google and [hottopicmonk's post](https://hottopicmonk.tumblr.com/post/630086486832857088/modern-standard-arabic-vocabulary-sadeeq-a) about arabic terms.

It was rare that they got this to themselves. This: a spacious, well stocked kitchen. No job, nothing pressing. Their own places, soundproofed rooms, long term identities. And monthly dinners. 

(Andy and Quynh were on yet another of their endless [and well deserved] vacations. As Booker had told her, it was “just you, me, and the loverboys.”)

“Can you pass me the thing?” Nicky gestured behind him, knife waving, as he started pulling tomatoes onto the cutting board. 

Nile paused from her spot at the sink. “What thing.”

“Y’know, the uh. The _thing_.”

“Nicky,” she wiped her hands on her shirt, “there are a lotta things.”

The Genoan huffed, hands coming to his hips in a way that definitely didn’t remind Nile of her mother.

“The,” he scrunched up his face, “the _thing_.”

Joe cocked his head. “The कोथिंबीर?”

“YEAH the कोथिंबीर. Tell her.”

“The like.” Joe took a second, pausing at the top of his stepladder. “Um. The green thing. Leafy.” 

“Tastes like soap,” Nicky added in helpfully.

“Hayati–”

“It tastes like soap, Yusuf.”

“I threaten _divorce_ , ya amar,” Joe said easily, making no effort to hide his grin.

“कोथिंबीर? Over me?” Nicky scrunched his nose, grabbing a pot from its home above a window. “You wound me. I’m hurt.” There was a popping sound as onions joined hot oil, and–

“Darling, don’t forget you _actually_ divorced me over tomatoes that one time–”

“Can one of you,” she interrupted, “just get the damn thing y’all want?”

The duo paused in their bickering, heads tilted. Of course, she figured, the thought hadn’t occurred to them.

Joe hopped off the ladder, poking his head in the kitchen to get a little green bunch, tossing it to his husband.

“Fucking cilantro?” Nile stood in the kitchen, unsure whether to be amused or outraged. Joe and Nicky looked at her mildly, unalarmed.

She shook her head, rubbing her eyes. And here she’d been, thinking _Andy_ was bad.

An open beer was already in Book’s outstretched hand as she strode out of the kitchen. “Don’t try to cook with them, ma chérie. Never ends well.”

She took a swig. “Noted.”

**Author's Note:**

> कोथिंबीर = **Ko-thumb-beer** (shorten the last ‘ee’ sound to ‘bir’), Marathi for cilantro. This was inspired purely because I didn’t wanna write depressing shit and it also takes me a solid two seconds to switch to English when talking about food with my American friends, and sometimes I end up subbing Spanish instead. Like, c’mon, the Guard may be old and smart but if a teenager regularly fucks up when they’re around their friends and family, so are a couple 1000 year-olds.
> 
> i'm on tumblr as [hugducks!](hugducks.tumblr.com) come say hello :)


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